Portable game cart can be valuable - and built for less than $10

Pull that big buck out of the woods with less effort

Game carts are becoming a valuable and important piece of a hunter's arsenal. They come in handy, being lightweight but able to help carry equipment for harvested game. They do less damage to the land than an ATV and are much quieter and more compact.

Many carts may cost more than $100, but here's a simple, do-it-yourself design that you can build in less than 30 minutes and for the cost of  or less  than a good deer drag.

You need a 10-foot section of ¾-inch conduit, a 6-foot section of ½-inch conduit, a small rectangular wire fence piece (approx 3x4 feet), 2 bicycle-style wheels and tie straps. The conduit will run around $6, the fence you can often pick up as scrap, the bicycle wheels can be purchased used for around $5 or new for $20, and the tie straps you can pick up at most dollar stores.

First, you bend the ¾-inch conduit into a rectangular shape to make the outside frame of the cart with a portion – about three feet – sticking out on one corner. You bend that portion upward at about 30 to 45 degrees to become the handle. Then, lay the wire fence partition on the frame and secure with the tie straps. If you have some overhang on the fence, you can bend it around the frame as well.

Then take the ½-inch conduit and place it about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way toward the rear of the cart. This will make the axle for the wheels and supply additional stability underneath the wire fence. The reason you place it further back is so when you lift the cart by the handle the rear will not drag the ground. You can secure the axle by overlapping two tie straps on each side of the frame.

Place the wheels into each end of the conduit axle, and you're ready to roll. The cart can easily be converted from a hand-pulled cart to a bicycle or even 4-wheeler attachable cart as well. I tested the cart with 150 pounds without any buckling, and this particular one was made for less than $8.